I have a problem when I'm traveling on business (which is very often). I have to survive with only my company-issued laptop for gaming. The reason I got interested in GalCiv 1 was the low machine requirements, and I'm hoping that this piece of crap VAIO will be enough for GalCiv 2.
What I'm asking for are some settings that can really reduce the visuals in the game for a weak machine like mine. I can enjoy the full eye-candy on my gaming box at home, but when I'm away I really need GalCiv 2 to feed my gaming addiction. I was hoping for some options like this:
- Disable ship textures
- Disable lighting effects
- "Icons only" mode OR "use icons except for VERY close zoom" mode
- Disable planet animations
I can't say for sure what causes my machine to slow down. On a Huge map, everything is great at the start of the game. Later in the game, it gets a lot slower. The differences that I can think of that may account for this are:
- more ships (AI and mine) are being displayed on the main screen
- more Fog Of War removed
- more trade route lines are being displayed
- ships with damage effects active on the main map
I'm thinking that it is the sheer number of ships graphics being displayed. When I zoom all the way out to "icons" zoom level, it seems to speed up everything. But it is hard to play when you are zoomed out that far. It becomes difficult to get the mouse in just the right spot to issue a move order, and sometimes the icons overlap things and it gets hard to see what's underneath. I also can't see the "active ship circle" from that level of zoom-out, so that gets confusing too.
I am willing to sacrifice a lot of the graphics if it will allow me to play the game while I'm traveling. For context, I will include my machine stats that I cut from the debug.err file. Please don't make fun.
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System Info
Time: 12/11/2005, 04:35:23
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: xxxxxxxxxxx
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Sony Corporation
System Model: PCG-V505DC2(UC)
BIOS: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0.
Processor: Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 - M CPU 2.20GHz
Physical Memory: 510MB RAM
Page File: 263MB used, 986MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: ATI MOBILITY RADEON (Omega 2.6.25a)
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc. (Omega 2.6.25a)
Chip Type: ATI MOBILITY RADEON AGP (0x4C59)
DAC Type: Internal DAC(350MHz)
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C59&SUBSYS_8147104D&REV_00
Display Memory: 16.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Default Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution:
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6512
Driver Date: 1/19/2005 21:25:56
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes
Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: YAMAHA AC-XG WDM Audio
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2485&SUBSYS_8147104D&REV_02
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: yacxgc.sys
Provider: YAMAHA CORPORATION
Driver Version: 6.13.0010.3154
Driver Date: 9/19/2002 19:19:56
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 3
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
